Page 42 - MRWATODAYSpring2021flipbook

Aging

Infrastructure -

a Financial

Burden on

Utilities and

Homeowners

By: Ashley Shiwarski

Our country’s infrastructure is aging and there is no one guiding agency or
overall plan to address myriad issues, from crumbling water pipes to inflow and
infiltration overloading storm and wastewater sewers.
Even as headlines warn of public health crises, federal funding of water
infrastructure has dropped from 30 percent 40 years ago to single digits today,
shifting much of the financial burden onto states and utilities. The American Water
Works Association estimated nearly $2 trillion must be invested in the systems
that 90 percent of Americans depend on for their water.
While drinking water infrastructure is funded primarily through a rate-
based system, the investment has been inadequate for decades and will continue
to be underfunded without significant changes as the revenue generated will fall
short as needs grow.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the country’s water
systems a D grade, warning more than two trillion gallons of treated water is lost
to water main breaks every year and emerging contamination issues threaten
the quality of drinking water. Minnesota does better, with an overall grade of C,
but drinking water systems received a C- and wastewater systems received a C.
It’s estimated that the state will need to invest nearly $8 billion over 20 years for
improvement and expansion, according to the ASCE.
“I think we are on

the verge of what

could be a crisis”

However, Minnesota Public Radio reports that it will actually take $11
billion to cover drinking water and wastewater improvements. “I think we are
on the verge of what could be a crisis”, said Elizabeth Wefel, a lobbyist for the
Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, told MPR. “When you start seeing all of these
facilities across the state starting to hit a certain age, and the funding isn’t keeping
up to help rehabilitate or build new, we are going to be facing a crisis.”
Minnesotans are familiar with infrastructure crisis – in 2007, 13 people
were killed and 145 injured after the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi
River collapsed during rush hour traffic. It sparked new conversations about aging
infrastructure, and the state legislature raised $2.5 billion for bridge improvements
through a gas tax.